Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sad as Hell

nplusonemag.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 67 posts

Re: Sad as Hell

#21

Post by jdminhbg »

rcavezza wrote: post #11
bobf wrote: post #5

Days seem over before they even begin, and I have nothing to show for myself other than the anxious feeling that I now know just enough to engage in conversations I don’t care about. To me, this was the most striking sentence in the article. It seems to be something that has increased from the time pop culture began to the present. Each of us probably hears more about Justin Bieber than we would ever truly care to, f…

Definitely true (referring to the quote). My girlfriend is in graduate school. Whens she comes home, she tells me about everything that happened to her during the day. I code and write blogposts. When she asks what I did, I say "went to the coffee shop and worked. That was about it."

I think this is just that people are wired differently. My gf and I are the same way, but it's just a matter of her feeling the need to recap her day to keep me apprised vs my desire to not waste time talking about things that just happened a couple hours ago. I don't see anything deeper to it.

Re: Sad as Hell

#22

Post by long »

gordonc wrote: post #16
SourPatch wrote: post #7

"It is my firm belief, and I say this as a dictum, that all these tools now at our disposal, these things part of this explosive evolution of means of communication, mean we are now heading for an era of solitude. Along with this rapid growth of forms of communication at our disposal — be it fax, phone, email, internet or whatever — human solitude will increase in direct proportion." -Werner Herzog

Reading this book The Possibility of an Island which postulates the same, though through a more socio-religious angle rather than technological.

What do you think of it?

I've read a few books by Houellebecq; they seem to get more and more depressing.

Re: Sad as Hell

#23

Post by Ixiaus »

derefr wrote: post #20

> “Maybe you keep the wrong company,” my mother suggests. Maybe. But I like my friends! We can sympathize with each other and feel reassured that we’re not alone in our overeager consumption, denigrated self-control, and anxiety masked as ambition. This is Gametalk[1], and you are a Loser (a term from [1]: basically one who is not Playing to Win[2] in the game of life.) You are finding no meaning in what you see arou…

This is a great comment.

All of the tools, gadgetry, and connectivity referenced by the author as the harbinger of his decline from individuality (loss of personality) do indeed usher forth his dystopia because he is using them to fill the hole that was created by his leaving the stimulating environment of college. A place where learning is efficient and discovery nil (this is what college is good for, but it isn't the whole equation - I'm obviously leaving research an exception).

College is an intellectually artificial environment whose culture is curated by those who decide what should be taught about what. The ability to cultivate a stimulating life, a life rich in thought and contemplation, rich in actionable accomplishments (finishing that basement, building that open source project, etc...) is not something that can be taught! It is often a quiet and solitary road too - my mind, my books, my notes, and my Self are all I need to have a fulfilling and deep life. Friends make it better. But as the author noted, there are few "self aware" people in the world. That hole is filled by deliberately choosing your thoughts, by being firm with what you choose to believe, by transmuting information (lead) into knowledge (gold).

I hope to see another essay detailing his journey from the state conveyed in this piece to a state chosen of his free will (we all have free will but he's using technology as a scape goat); because, he is an excellent writer.

Re: Sad as Hell

#24

Post by jholman »

Ixiaus wrote: post #23
derefr wrote: post #20

> “Maybe you keep the wrong company,” my mother suggests. Maybe. But I like my friends! We can sympathize with each other and feel reassured that we’re not alone in our overeager consumption, denigrated self-control, and anxiety masked as ambition. This is Gametalk[1], and you are a Loser (a term from [1]: basically one who is not Playing to Win[2] in the game of life.) You are finding no meaning in what you see arou…

This is a great comment. All of the tools, gadgetry, and connectivity referenced by the author as the harbinger of his decline from individuality (loss of personality) do indeed usher forth his dystopia because he is using them to fill the hole that was created by his leaving the stimulating environment of college. A place where learning is efficient and discovery nil (this is what college is good for, but it isn't t…

> his

her

If you can't check your sexist assumptions, then you could check the byline.

Re: Sad as Hell

#25

Post by jacoblyles »

jholman wrote: post #24
Ixiaus wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great comment. All of the tools, gadgetry, and connectivity referenced by the author as the harbinger of his decline from individuality (loss of personality) do indeed usher forth his dystopia because he is using them to fill the hole that was created by his leaving the stimulating environment of college. A place where learning is efficient and discovery nil (this is what college is good for, but it isn't t…

> his her If you can't check your sexist assumptions, then you could check the byline.

As long as we are going to share the same internet, we can acknowledge that the use of the masculine as the default gender for an anonymous person is a longstanding tradition in the English language, and not every person checks every byline of every article she reads. Norms are changing, but I wouldn't call someone wrong or sexist for using a convenient idiom instead of more awkward and somewhat forced modern formulations (although in this case, she is indeed wrong).

Re: Sad as Hell

#26

Post by taphangum »

long wrote: post #13
SourPatch wrote: post #7

"It is my firm belief, and I say this as a dictum, that all these tools now at our disposal, these things part of this explosive evolution of means of communication, mean we are now heading for an era of solitude. Along with this rapid growth of forms of communication at our disposal — be it fax, phone, email, internet or whatever — human solitude will increase in direct proportion." -Werner Herzog

That's an apt quotation... that you posted to the Internet to be seen by anonymous others who don't know you.

meta.

Re: Sad as Hell

#27

Post by bouncingsoul »

jacoblyles wrote: post #25
jholman wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> his her If you can't check your sexist assumptions, then you could check the byline.

As long as we are going to share the same internet, we can acknowledge that the use of the masculine as the default gender for an anonymous person is a longstanding tradition in the English language, and not every person checks every byline of every article she reads. Norms are changing, but I wouldn't call someone wrong or sexist for using a convenient idiom instead of more awkward and somewhat forced modern formula…

Norms will only keep improving if people keep complaining.

Here's an article about the forgotten tradition of they as a singular pronoun: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=723184

Also, because of the he, I assumed Ixiaus was referring to Gary Shteyngart, the author being reviewed.

Re: Sad as Hell

#28

Post by jacquesm »

bobf wrote: post #5

Days seem over before they even begin, and I have nothing to show for myself other than the anxious feeling that I now know just enough to engage in conversations I don’t care about. To me, this was the most striking sentence in the article. It seems to be something that has increased from the time pop culture began to the present. Each of us probably hears more about Justin Bieber than we would ever truly care to, f…

Justin who ?

Re: Sad as Hell

#29

Post by madair »

When N+1 is good, they are really good.

When N+1 hosts writers just out of college, this is what we get. It happens.

This is your typical "we're special because of xyz" conceit.

We all know what that is. We've all been there, and fortunately many of of have noticed and the next time is less severe.

The "we're special because humans never before did x" has been around since the beginning of time, and it's always right on some vapid level. The exciting thing is, we all still have blood, and thin skins, and bacteria who want to live in us but also want to eat us, and viruses who just want to subvert us. That doesn't change that much. Sure, lifespan doubles, hurrah.

This conceit is a cousin of ludditism, a 1st cousin that is, just with a different twist.

Enjoy your college writers. They are great entertainment. Nothing more.

Re: Sad as Hell

#30

Post by lionhearted »

Semiapies wrote: post #8
bobf wrote: post #5

Days seem over before they even begin, and I have nothing to show for myself other than the anxious feeling that I now know just enough to engage in conversations I don’t care about. To me, this was the most striking sentence in the article. It seems to be something that has increased from the time pop culture began to the present. Each of us probably hears more about Justin Bieber than we would ever truly care to, f…

This is entirely voluntary. For instance, I know that Bieber exists, and I can probably count on my fingers how many times I've seen pictures of him. I found the one or two songs of his I've heard innocuous and utterly forgettable - I probably couldn't identify him if I heard those very same songs again. I'm not even aware precisely why he's the go-to example of annoying celebrity, lately. I'm not utterly isolated fr…

> This is entirely voluntary.

Indeed, and I've pretty much done it. But it takes effort. You need credible replacements for the mindless time, and then you need to actively push yourself towards the new stuff as opposed to the old stuff.

The credible replacements is everything. If you commute by car, you need either:

-Some audiotapes/audiobooks/podcasts

-Someone to carpool with

-Some way of not driving any more (car service if you're wealthy enough, taking the train or bus otherwise)

...otherwise you're going to listen to the radio. What else is there to do while driving?

So it takes some effort. Totally doable though. I just calculated out how much time I spent on pop culture this year - Only one movie (Robin Hood, meh - I would've seen Inception except I was in the back provinces of China when it was released, and then it was gone from theaters when I was back in civilization), less than ten hours of TV (mostly tennis), no pop music except what was on when I was wandering through stores playing music or at a bar, no newspapers, and a few hours of trashy magazines while sitting in an aeronautical engineer friend's bathroom (why he reads them is beyond me, but it wasn't a terrible use of time while in his bathroom).

But this is only possible because I've got a list of stuff to do - a Kindle loaded with good books, an mp3 player loaded with audiobooks/podcasts, Hacker News/LessWrong/Google Reader loaded with good blogs, Lichess.org for when I want to play a game of Chess, and a list of temples/mosques/ruins/parks/beaches to go to.

It's not enough to just "opt out" - you need to "opt in" to some comparable activity to fill your time.

Post reply on HN